Welcome to the Steelworkers! USW organizing successes

Early this year, following a determined organizing campaign, some 280 workers at mining giant Vale’s metal processing facilities in Long Harbour, N.L., officially joined the United Steelworkers.

These new USW members work at the Vale Long Harbour Processing Plant, which refines nickel, cobalt and copper. The workers have joined USW Local 9508, which also represents more than 1,100 Steelworkers at Vale’s mining operations in Voisey’s Bay, N.L. This successful campaign is part of the USW’s renewed commitment to organize non-union workers throughout the mining sector.

In Quebec, another targeted USW organizing campaign – supporting road-traffic control workers who want to join the union – also has met with considerable success.

The campaign’s most-recent success saw 40 employees of the company Signalisation Deux-Rives join the new USW Local 9005. The workers chose the USW to defend their rights and improve their working conditions, in particular their health and safety on the job. USW Local 9005 was recently created specifically to represent road-traffic control workers across Quebec, and its membership has grown to more than 1,000 – and counting.

The USW also continues to build on its reputation as the union of choice for Starbucks workers in Canada, with numerous organizing victories to date in western provinces and Ontario. Recent successes include workers at the Starbucks Oak Bay location in Victoria, B.C., and the Starbucks Alder Crossing store in Surrey, B.C., joining the Steelworkers.

In every region of the country, in virtually every sector of the economy, workers are joining the Steelworkers because of our strong track record on health and safety and negotiating better wages and working conditions. Other workplaces where the USW has recently welcomed new members include:

• Pacific Energy, Duncan, B.C.
• Manitoba NDP Constituency Assistants, Manitoba (province-wide)
• Environmental 360 Solutions, Witset, B.C.
• Kootenay Savings Credit Union, New Denver and Nakusp, B.C.
• Trimax Sécurité, Quebec (province-wide)
• Wakenagun Youth Healing Lodge, Timmins, Ont.
• University of Toronto residence dons (Scarborough campus), Toronto

Workers who are interested in joining the Steelworkers can find the information and support they need via these links:

District 3 (Western Canada and the Territories):
betterworknow.ca
betterworknow.ca/starbucks

District 5 (Quebec) (in French only):
metallos.org/lavantage-metallos/se-syndiquer

District 6 (Ontario and Atlantic Canada):
imaginebetter.work
imaginebetter.work/starbucks

Also check out: usw.ca/join

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